>> in america today, child poverty has reached record levels, with over 16 million children now affected. >> to us, it's just how we live. you don't get to make choices in how you live. >> one in 13 americans is now unemployed, and many children are growing up with little hope for their future. >> i'm surprised by how things can change so fast. you can go from doing okay to going hungry and on the verge of being homeless again. >> and we're going to start with numbers one through 20. >> food banks struggle to keep up with demand, and homeless shelters have long waiting lists, as even middle-income families sometimes lose their homes with just a few days' notice. >> if the tv can fit in your school bag, you can take it. if it didn't fit, you couldn't take it.

>> we asked these children wht a life being poor in america really looks like, through their eyes. >> frontlinis made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. and by the corporation for public broadcasting. major support for frontliis provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information is available at macfound.org. additional funding is provided by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. and by the frontline journalism fund, with grants from jon and jo ann hagler, on behalf of the jon l. hagler foundation.

and scott nathan and laura debonis. >> my name is brittany smith, and i'm nine years old. it's tough because my mom and dad are poor. my dad just lost his job. it's kind of hard for us. monday i tried getting in the shower, and it was cold. i put the hot on all the way and

no cold, and it was freezing. it felt like shoving your face in a bunch of snow. it was freezing! the hot water shut off because we didn't pay the bill in time. it was overdue. >> so what's the next bill due? >> electricity. it's going to be $318. we just need to put roger's ass to work. >> yeah. >> when you see the flat-screen tv and the computers and our ps3 and stuff, that's just things we've acquired over the years, stuff that we've had before all this happened, like when we were not this poor. >> sink's broke. i don't know how or why, but it broke. and the cheapest plumber is, like, $65 an hour.

i can't even afford $20. >> we lived in a farmhouse. my dad lost his job from picture perfect. he got laid off, and we got kicked out of there. we moved here. it's not very big. we didn't have enough room, so we had to put stuff in storage, and we lost it all because we couldn't pay it. >> how storage works is, like, you put all your stuff in there when you move, but you have to pay the bill or else they throw it out in the street, because they have a spare key. i don't think it's right, because people shouldn't throw other people's stuff in the street, because that's just plain up rude. i got a big make-up thing, and i lost it in storage. i got a barrette stall, i lost it in storage. i lost my favorite teddy bear. i lost my ds. it was great, it was awesome.

i'm bummed out because, like, that was my favorite thing in the world besides my family. >> yeah, caliper's shot. got to get new pistons at least on it. >> my dad's brakes on the truck isn't working. one time we almost got in a wreck. it sounded like nails on a chalkboard. i hate that sound. when is the cable being shut off? >> soon. we owe them almost $200. cable, internet, all that, we don't have the money to pay it. >> what are you doing? >> applying for a job. >> have you applied to many places? >> this'll be the third menard's store i've applied at. walmart, the anchor place, quite

a few. >> i hope that my dad will somehow miracle-y get his truck working and get a good job and so we'll be able to get money to keep this house, hopefully, and not get kicked out. >> my name is kaylie hegwood, and i live in stockton, iowa. oh, yay! that one was good, that one was

good! and i am ten years old, and i live with my mother and my brother, tyler, and he is 12 years old. i don't think we're a rich family, but i think, like, we're kind of a poor family. i'm hungry. >> (laughing): i knew you were going to say that as soon as you.. you're going to have to wait now, sis. i'm just starving. we don't get the three meals a day, like breakfast, lunch and then dinner. when i feel just, like, hungry, i just like feel like i'm so, like, sad and all droopy, and then i'll feel, like, weak, and then some in the mornings i'll be, like, so starving, but then i'll be like, "i need some food!" but then, like, i'll get, like, but then i don't think of food and then i'll just think of

something else and then i'll not be hungry anymore. >> there's good days and bad days. sometimes when we have cereal, we don't have milk. we have to eat it dry. sometimes we don't have cereal and we have milk. it's often, like, switch and swap. sometimes, like, when i switch the channel and there's a cooking show on, i get a little more hungry, and i want to vanish into the screen and start eating the food. >> you can't pull it, mom, when i'm doing this >> stop pulling. >> i'm sorry. >> how do you think you have customers? >> (laughing): customers. >> i don't want you to freakin' cut me. >> i'm not gonna cut you. >> you better not. >> i've been in school long enough, i won't cut you. >> or you're dead. i mean it. my mom, she has very little in her bank. and, like, she can't pay all of

our bills at the same time. >> my income is $480... or $1,480, and the total of my bills is $1,326, and that does not leave me money for food or gas. i've never seen it this bad. >> my best friend is jordan, and we grew up together. we like to go canning to make money. cans! with canning, i just walk ound, look for cans, and i walk, like, around the whole town. the non-squished ones are five cents. >> and the squished are two cents. >> yeah. some people come over here for gas, and it's not here anymore. the dance hall, that's broken. train station, that's still up,

but it's all rotted and stuff. i'll do it nice and slow for you. oh, another crushed can! >> in 2004 is when this shut down. >> and now look at it. it's crappy. it used to be so... special. didn't that used to be a movie theater? >> what? >> that. >> no. >> what did it used to be? >> it was the old bank. >> huh. i bet there's old money in there. >> i'm not going in there. the floor fell in. >> well, that would be awesome if there was, like, thousands and thousands of dollars. >> tyler! those are ours! drop 'em! kaylie! >> drop 'em! >> kaylie!

>> when we can't afford to pay our bills, like our house bills and stuff, i'm afraid, like, we'll get homeless. me and my brother will starve. you never know what'll happen in your life. so, yeah. >> my name is jasmine, and i am nine years old, and i live with my brothers joshua, jaylen and jonny. >> my name is jonny davis. i'm 13 years old, going to be 14 in three months.

we are in the salvation army homeless shelter. my dad had got a business, and he was making about a good $5,000 a month. we had good and fancy things then. we had, like, a three-bedroom house. our living room had a 32-inch flat-screen tv in there. my mom's and dad's room had a 42-inch flat-screen tv in their room. and that's what tv you watched the super bowl on. (screaming playfully) >> y'all can't come in here. >> those are eggs. are you serious? >> yeah. >> why would you bring that out here? >> because. >> whoa! >> when it was good, it was good. i can remember having five or six jobs a month that were lined up back to back, and i mean decent paying jobs-- $4,000, $5,000, $7,000, whatever it was. and all of a sudden, just right

about the time when everybody was saying, you know, "the recession is coming about, the recession is coming about," people just plain old stopped fixing on their houses, stopped making repairs. >> the payment on the house was due in two weeks, and i guess my parents just didn't have the money at the time, because he was explaining to us business was slow. and we lost our whole house and everything. so we're just back to ground zero. then we moved to a homeless shelter. anything that can fit in a book bag or a suitcase, you can take it. whatever you... like this tv, the yellow one in the living room, that only made it because it could fit in my bag. if it couldn't fit in my bag, that would've been left behind, too. >> we have to go. hurry up, let's go. >> hurry, hurry, hurry. my dad works at a factory, and we drive him there every day.

>> come on, in the car, in the car. >> in, in, in. >> assigned seats, assigned seats, let's go. >> the journey takes about two hours there and back. we have to go with our mom because the rules say that we couldn't be left in the shelter by ourself because we weren't old enough. >> i thank god that he still has a chance and an ability to still go out and get different jobs. >> it's not a career, something that i want to spend the rest of my working years doing, but it's something that will provide for us to have some food. >> ♪ ...road again... always driving, always. i know this is tough, driving out here every day, there and back, there an back, there and back, you know. it'd be so much easier if you could go ahead and just grab us a place out here so you don't have to make the trip back and forth. i look at that little house every time i ride past.

that's a nice one there. >> sometimes when i watch people who, like, walk into their house when we're driving, i wish that sometimes, like, i had a house like those people. >> is it me or does it seem like it gets further away every day? >> kaylie, what are you looking at? >> it's loud. >> i just like to go explore the world.

but i'm never going to be able to do that, because these days everything is expensive. i watched this one show where it said they're raising the gas prices, and my mom can't even afford gas. we have to be careful how we use our gas, how we use everything. >> a lot of times i have to give my money up to buy groceries and buy gas for the car and lawnmower. for mowing other people's lawns and... i got ten dollars, and i put in six of it for the gas and gave the rest to my mom for some food and... it's kind of what i do with my money. i don't think i'm going to do mowing for a living.

>> the bills here at the house is just too much for me to handle. and i seen a doctor last week for depression, and she put me on some antidepressants and xanax for my panic attacks. right now there doesn't seem to be a way out. so my only options are to give up my house and move my stuff into storage and move into the motel room. >> whoo! >> i mean, i don't know if i can find a job when i get out of school. or if it'll ever get any better. (dog barking)

i'll have to find day care for kaylie. i mean, she's ten, but still... her and tyler, they're brother and sister. they fight. i'll come home and one will be hanging from the ceiling fan and the other one will be god-knows-where. i'm scared. >> i don't want to move. i like living here, because my friends are nice to me. like, i just want to stay put here. we won't get to keep our dog nala. it's's extra money, and we're going to get rid of her. like, i want to spend much time with her. but then again i want to spend time with my friends.

go, go! fight, fight! win, win, go-go, fight-fight... win. go, go! fight, fight! win, win, go-go, fight-fight... win. come on, you've got this. you, you got this. when i'm dancing, i'm mostly happy. it's like i'm in a different world. i'm always dancing, nonstop. i just love dancing. i'm just truly in love with dancing. it's like my destiny to become, um, like a famous dancer or a famous cheerleader. i feel like it's my destiny. >> and there might be a question

about whether you get food stamps or not. we're going to ask you for your name and your phone number. >> i think there's a lot of people in america that need help with food. because they're poor or they're either homeless, or they're both. we need food for our family. i'm hitting my growth spurt, and i'm really hungry. my favorite food is chinese food. i'm craving that right now. know what makes me mad? we can't afford it.

>> i think we're probably pretty good for fourth grade. >> ooh, we got a variety here now. >> oh, they just flip them. they flip the cereal. it gets them all excited. "i want that one!" (laughing) >> why did she change the plot? she first changed the plot, she makes the wolf wear a tutu. wolves aren't ballerinas. i've seen a lot of things in my life. >> (over intercom): mr. caiglin? >> yes? >> is this a good time for you? would you like to send your students down to the nutrition club? >> i'll have them down there shortly. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. hey, what i need you to do, my nutrition club students, go ahead and stand up, push your chairs up, line up. i'll send you down there in just a moment. >> put your chairs up? >> put your chairs up, yeah, push your chairs in. >> okay. >> nutrition club is a bag of food that you get every friday and you have to make last the whole weekend. they announce in class that you have to go down for nutrition club if you're in it. you have to go to the office and you have to sign your name in for it. and then, um, you go put it in

your locker and then you go back to class. poor people get nutrition club because they can't afford to get othe. >> they should be down pretty soon. >> okay. >> shouldn't take them long. hey, good morning, brittany. how you doing? >> um, is monica in the nutrition club yet? >> not yet, honey. she's on our list, though. she's on our waiting... she's towards the top, but she's there. >> we'll work on it, okay? >> hey, make sure you put it in your lockers right away. >> i'm surprised by how things can change so fast. you can go from doing okay, not having to go hungry, to this-- going hungry and having to pay all your bills and not being able to, on the verge of being homeless again. >> what are you doing? >> yuck-- trying to win something. you got to match the coupons with the pictures. they'll probably give you just

enough to where you think you're going to win, and then you don't. >> eighty-four. >> hey, josh, how much did the pizzas cost? >> uh, i think it was five of them for ten bucks. they taste like it, too. >> mom, i found a match! instead of eating fruits and vegetableswe eat pizzas and stuff, because that's all we can afford. fruits and vegetables are more expensive than pizzas. we last had fruits and vegetables a few weeks ago, because we had the money then. >> "instant winner"? oh, i got a free donut. >> it's true. if you have a bad diet, then it makes you look fatter. sometimes i yell at myself. because i'm disappointed in myself because people tease me for the way i look. pizza again?

no, i'm just joking. >> i'd love if it was a steak or shrimp or lobster. >> oh, don't bring that up. >> do you know what? if you use your imagination, it almost tastes like it. take a bite of a big, fat piece of juicy steak. didn't work. (laughing) >> my mom can't work and my mom can't drive. and my mom's sick. >> when i get really stressed out, i go into episodes that are like seizures, and i end up in the hospital, and they said my body tries to shut down, because i can't handle stress. it gets worse every time. and they said that it would

eventually end up killing me. >> i worry about her a lot. it is hard feeling like you're going to lose your mother. >> if i wasn't like this, things would be different. if i could work or drive, we'd have more money. them seeing the way that i am with stress and everything doesn't really help them, because i don't want them to grow up not knowing how to deal with it either. and it scares me to even have to think about that, because i don't want them to be like me at all. (clears throat) i want my kids to be better than me.

(train whistle blowing) >> grr! nala, she was, like, my dog. she was like my favorite dog. and now we have to take her to the pound. we have to get rid of nala but not tanner. nala's so adorable. like if you had her, she would sleep on your bed and she would sleep on you. she's like your little guard dog. we're getting rid of my perfect little lovey dog. yes, nala, i hear you stressing out.

i love you, nala. >> does she have any favorite toys or games? >> she needs lots and lots of bones. she'll chew one in, like, an hour, so... (whispering): she hates baths. >> oh, yeah, doesn't like baths. this is my animal lover. >> she'll have to go into our isolation room, since she hasn't gotten any vaccinationyet. so she'll be in an isolated area right now. all right, sweetie. do you want the leash and collar back at all? >> just the leash. >> okay. >> andhe collar!

>> why the collar? t >> collar, mom... fine. meanie. (crying) (barking) (wind rustling)

>> i thoughte were getting a double bed. >> and there's no mini fridge. dang it. and there's no microwave. okay, we have to ask them about that. >> darn. i thought we were getting a dole bed. damn. >> well, we're going to have to ask them about the mini fridge. >> this is small. >> it's going to be small. plain and simple, it's going to be small. >> this is as big as my room. >> yeah. (kids shouting playfully) >> you took half of all my tapes. hah! >> what type of animal is the

north america roadrunner? >> d, a bird. >> correct. >> you should know that off the cartoons. >> yeah. >> we missing lunch. >> miss saigon. >> we missed lunch. >> you don't want a lot of people to find out that you live here. people will make fun of it and it can really haunt you after a while. it starts... you start to have no friends, people will tease you about it and stuff like that. >> i'm embarrassed because i'm poor and because i live in a shelter. it makes me feel like i just... wish i never lived here. >> there's a kid at the school who looks... dress worser than me. but he has his own house, though. he got a house to call home.

he don't have to go sit down with thousands of people to eat dinner. he can run to his refrigerator and open it up. and i can't do that. i have to wait until a certain time and have to eat, because if i don't eat, i will starve all night, until the next morning. >> make sure you stay in line so you get your plate, okay? >> yes, sir. >> stand right here, and as soon as she goes, jonny, you go after jasmine. >> as a mother, you always got different thoughts going through your head and mind and wishing that you could change things and wishing things was different. but what are you to do? you can't keep beating yourself up about it, but at the same time... it's just hard. having a family is hard. maintaining a family is hard. keeping us indoors is hard.

>> just lay them out right there. chill, jasmine. >> why did you do that? >> it's to open up the boxes. >> open it with your hands. >> no, it's tape. that tape hard. jasmine, no. >> when you live in a shelter, you have to obey by the rules and do your chore, and if you don't you get a write-up, and if you get over eight write-ups, you get put out. >> hey, mom and dad. guess what i got on my grades? >> what? oh, oh! >> that's good. >> one for the willis team. >> that saved you from 70 lashes, didn't it? (everyone laughs)

so did you do good? >> i got two a's, two b's and two c's. >> ooh, wow. >> that's what's up, jon. >> i have to get you a skateboard. >> grades is my only way out of here. if my grades are not good, i know i can't go to universities like my dream is to go. i know if my grades are not good, i can't play football like i want to. if i don't succeed doing what i have to do in school and making good grades, i will fail-- i'm going to live this life, a life of shelters, going through hard times, can't feed my kids, trying to figure out where i'm going to lay my head every night. >> look... ah! living in a motel is like... like it's cool, but then not so

cool. there's no friends, no one to play with. i pass the time by watching tv or talking to alex, helping him do the laundry and then putting stickers on the cards. ooh, it's hot in here. >> there is new people came in room number 124, like you, and they have kids about your age. >> are you sure? >> yeah, you check them out. >> 126? >> 124. >> 124. how many families live here? >> here? it depends. sometime peoples come for weekly stays, sometimes for you guys, like, right... >> yeah... >> so in summer... in winter,

there's more people for standard stays who are homeless. and in the winter, the shelters, they're all filled up, so people can't sleep outside. >> it's all crunched up and there's not much space. see? (groans) he takes up the whole way to go to the bathroom. we had much more space in the house. be right back. the cold stuff that needs to be freezed is in the sink. we don't have a fridge. just this sink is our fridge. we have to get ice mostly every day because it melts during night.

when i struggle for money, there's nothing to eat. all there is is cans of vegetables. so i've been eating vegetables. there's really not enough food. if i could change anything, it would be being poor. i really don't want to be poor because then you can't get... because then how can you pay rent, how can you get food, how can you get a roof over your head if you're gonna be poor? >> that'll fit you, and it's cute. >> nah. we just found out my mom is

pregnant. she's like a whale. my dad's been working. he's been working for a week and he has $64 total. >> definitely not a good time to have a baby, but i don't believe in abortion and... >> or adoption. financially, we're going to be in a lot more trouble. >> financially, we'll be strapped. >> good lord. >> are you okay, mom? is the baby hurting you? >> are you going to be alive in ten seconds? >> oh, my god, i'm having a hot flash. >> it's just fanning you, logan. i think it would be difficult for the baby to grow up here because we don't have a lot of money. toasted oats, cheerios, apple

sauce, some fruit. milk. beef stew. beef lasagna. we don't have the money to buy diapers for it and food for it. and the good part is that my mom's happy, like my family's happy. i don't really care if i'm happy or not. i just care if my family's happy. >> we always manage, don't we? >> mm-hmm. >> you know why? >> why? >> we're survivors. struggle, survive and smile. >> how come we smile when we

struggle and survive? >> because it helps us from going insane. >> no, that makes us insane. >> makes you insane when you give up. you're never going to give up, are you? >> nope. no, ma'am. keep going, keep going. when you feel like you've had enough and you want to quit, that's when you push yourself more and make yourself do it. i think the think i miss the most from having all this happen is the internet. i mean, people don't realize what they have until it's gone. and, whew, serious world of warcraft withdrawals, man.rc 'cause in world of warcraft, i'm awesome. i'm a level 85 paladin. tank and healer. and in real life, i'm a 14-year-old boy with nothing going for him. (chuckles)

>> kaylie, want to move stuff to the other house? hey! >> okay, i know, i said yes. come on, give me a minute. i'm looking forward to moving away from here, because we need to move because we don't have space. >> kaylie! >> ow! >> kaylie! >> gross. >> kaylie, just wait. i'll do it. >> go in there and pick up all

the stuff by that sink over there. >> oh, my god, i gotta pack my toys. bad enough we left my toys at the frickin' other house. >> kaylie! i'm getting claustrophobic, can't do this. it's 11:15! trash-- you going to take it to the dumpster? go, jesus. >> she is one crazy mom. she's tiring. but she really needs work on the yelling. i don't care if she hears this. she needs to work on her yelling. >> when we were moving, she says she's going to do it happily. freakin'... grr. i want to scream. i'm gonna explode.

hey, tanner, let's go look at our new house. come on, let's go upstairs. there's mom's room. how can you do this, up on these stairs? come on, tanner! (chuckles) and here's my room. what are you doing? i'm going to have to put a rug over that. come on, tanner. at my new home, i kind of like it and i kind of don't. i mostly sleep on the floor. i hope it will be more comfortable on the bed. winter... there's really nothing to do, just fold my clothes, mess them all up, fold them, mess them all

up, fold them... or clean. but there's not much to clean but the kitchen, so... some kids have large houses. they can have whatever they want. but i think my mom, she kind of made a wrong turn or something, so that's what all started this. (chirping) >> it's a family of six. >> do you have your i.d. and a piece of mail? >> yes, ma'am. >> have you been here? >> no, ma'am, never. i'm staying in a shelter at the salvation army, on the secon floor, and when you move out and

go to transitional housing, which is upstairs, you have to get everything on your own. >> mm-hmm. >> so food and household needs and everything else. >> and that's what led you here. >> yes, >> okay. >> we are in our new apartment, transitional housing. my mom says it's harder because she has to spend a lot of money to feed us and to spend a lot of money to get the house together and, like, buy stuff. >> you getting too big. you always want something extra. >> i don't want nothing extra. >> yes, you do. you want a phone, you want shoes... >> i got a phone. i ain't wearing no earth walkers outside. no, sir. jordans and nikes. >> jonny, nikes and jordans are expensive. >> i know. >> just for a name, that makes no sense. now you need a job. >> nike's not expensive. >> look, i've been buying josh shoes after shoes after shoes. i can't affo it. now what-- walmart? he gotta take walmart. what else can i do? at least his feet not dragging

the ground. >> there were some jordan flip-flops in there for 30 bucks. now, that's a great deal. you cannot find no jordan flip-flops, the brand-new kind, for no 30 bucks. they're probably not real, but guess what? >> is that a great deal when i can go to walmart and buy my... the shoes i'm wearing i got from walmart for five dollars. >> i'm talking about name brand stuff. that's a good deal, mama. >> my sandals are nice, right? >> if you listen to it, it's a good deal. >> you want some of those, right? see, that's why i like y'all when y'all small. they accept stuff. you getting too big. your feet growing. you in grown people's shoes now. (groans) please stop growing! (chuckles) >> we had more money in the shelter part than we had here, because now everything is all on our own now. down there, we took everything for granted. you could get free food every day.

you got a free place to live. >> for josh' birthday... >> i saw you, mom. >> here's one of tom's old business cards. >> oh, yeah, i remember t&c! >> t&c, tom and classy. >> yeah. >> it was me and him all the time. i know we lost a lot with the business, and me and tom every day putting our heads together, trying to think about what else can we do to get ourselves out of this? see what we can come up with to make some extra money. so we wouldn't be in a hole all the time or just barely trying to find food. i mean, i would think at least everybody in america can have some food and housing. the poorest man, a place to sleep and food. and it's not that way. it's a little rough. a lot rough. >>all i want is to play football, but football

is expensive. i can name a few items i need and want for my sports, but i just got to wait on it till next time mama can afford it. i'm 14. my life is almost over. until i'm a grown man. and if i don't have the opportunity to show somebody to play football, football won't exist in four years from now. if i don't get to play on a team this year, that dream is going to slowly start fading away. that's what happens to some of the dreams of kids. they pertain to something and they c't afford it. (saw buzzing) >> my dad is trying to make a room in the garage for my mom and dad, for him and my mom, so

we have room for the baby. (laughing) >> there's your little chin thing. >> it's a boy. >> he wants his bottle. >> i was really hoping for a little sister, but, you know, you get what you get. (saw buzzing) went back to work for the company that i used to work for, and they're not doing the greatest either. i'd say i got maybe a week's worth of work, and then they're going to be closing up shop from this local office and only keeping one of the three branches open, you know. so it's just temporary, but it's something. temporary fix to a long-term problem. >> no more babies. i got my tubes tied after i had him.

i love him and i wouldn't mind having more, but we can't afford it. >> the babies' futures are going to be weird and messed up. life is going to be hard because there's hardly gonna be any jobs left in the future, or any money. rich people will be poor, like this. like you. you might get poor in the last few months. you never know. >> we're back in this motel again because we got kicked out of the duplex. my mom didn't pay the rent, and so then we went to motel 6, and then we nt to this twin

bridges hotel, and then we went to here. oh, god, we went to so many places. even talking about it is making me dizzy. >> come on, it's overflowing. look, it's not going in. >> move-- i can make it work. yes... it... will! we've been moving around a lot between iowa and moline, that my mom can't sign us up for school. why can't i go to school? >> i will get you in school, but we gotta wait till we get the trailer, which is only, like, a few days away, so there's no sense in putting you in school over here if you're going to be switching to iowa over there. >> okay. if you go to school and then, like, one or two weeks you're going to have to move, but then you have to move from all your new friends, all your teachers,

when you have such a good time. and so my mom says that we're going to go, we're going to get in school when we move into the trailer that we are getting. >> the trailer is very livable, it has floors. we're going to be redoing it. >> am i going to have to crawl in with the snakes to get the pipes unfrozen? >> no, no. it's all... >> the best thing to do is put hay bales around it. >> i know, we're going to get some of those and do that. but we're going to be moving the trailer probably in a couple of summers, but that'll be two years away, so, because we have to have a two-year lease. >> what? >> if we stay there two years. >> if i keep missing school, then i see my future poor, on the streets, in a box, not even. and... asking for money

everywhere, everybody, and then stealing stuff from stores and, you know... i don't want to steal stuff. i don't want to do any of that stuff. i want to get an education and a good job. i believe th i'm going to get a perfect job that i like and that i want to do. people can't stop you from believing in your own dreams. >> go to pbs.org/frontline to watch an extra video feature

on what it's like to be a poor kid growing up in sansa francisco. >> it's kind of hard because you don't have your own room, you just have your little area. >> learn more about poverty in america today. >> we need food for our family. >> and connect to thfrontline community on facebook and twitter, or tell us what you >>hinnext timfrontline...ne. fast cars. >> zero to 60 in under five seconds. >> we do want to change the automotive industry. as delusional as that sounds. >> smart kids. >> no one expected a hybrid sports car to be made by a high school. >> and a $10 million prize. >> this is really a global competition. >> we've done something that million-dollar corporations haven't done. >> "fast times at west philly high."

>> frontlinis made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. and by the corporation for public broadcasting. major support for frontliis provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information is available at macfound.org. additional funding is provided by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. and by the frontline journalism fund, with grants from jon and jo ann hagler, on behalf of the jon l. hagler foundation. and scott nathan and laura debonis. captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

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this is my dog. my room.me. this is my civic hf. this is the song i'm listening to. this is breakfast. would have rather had this. this is where i'm going someday. this is where i'm headed now. this is my big green button. ♪ [ woman singing upbeat pop ] this is my shake mustache.

this is me, happy. [ man ] the 41-mile-per-gallon highway civic hf. only from honda.

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